1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of manufacturing food resembling scallop and food resembling scallop manufactured by the same method. More particularly, the invention concerns a method, in which material in the form of filaments thermally molded from a material mainly composed of ground fish meat or the like can be integrated by molding without use of any binder such as fish meat paste to obtain food resembling scallop, which can be hardly distinguished both in appearance and texture from the natural scallop meat and can be dressed with batter, crumbs, etc. satisfactorily even at the corners.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, food resembling the scallop meat both in appearance and texture which is manufactured from ground meat of fish, e.g., cod, which called "surimi" is considerably popular along with food resembling crab meat. The food resembling the scallop meat is manufactured in the various ways. In a most general method, ground meat paste is molded into the form of strips, which are then subjected to setting, solidified, heated and then cut into the form of fine filaments. Such fine filaments are gathered together with a binder such as fish meat paste into a cylindrical form, which is then heated and cut to a predetermined length or thickness. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a cylindrical mold for producing the molded food material in the prior art method noted above. The mold 1 consists of semi-cylindrical halves 2a and 2b hinged together by a hinge member 2c. These mold halves 2a and 2b are closed with fine filaments 6 of ground meat or the like set in the interior together with a binder such as fish meat paste or like via a film 3. The inner food material is thus compacted into a cylindrical form, which is then put into said mold in order to be hinged together therein by the hinged member 2c. The food material thus obtained is then heated to obtain a cylindrical material as shown in FIG. 2. After the molding, the film 3 covering the molded material 4 is separated, and the material 4 is cut to a constant length, whereby a food product 5 resembling the scallop meat as shown in FIG. 3 is obtained. The food 5 consists of the filaments 6 of ground fish meat or the like which are bound and integrated by the binder. The individual components filaments are straight and extend in parallel, so that the product has a structure closely resembling that of the natural scallop meat.
Japanese Patent Application Disclosure No. 55-40024 discloses another method of manufacturing a food product in a scallop meat fashion. In this method, ground fish meat paste is coated on the surface of a rotating heating roller and dried thereon to form a strip-like material. A binder such as fish meat paste is then thinly coated on the material, and the process is then cut into the form of filaments. These filaments are then boiled and integrated into a cylindrical form using a retainer mold. The material is then cut to substantially the same thickness as the scallop meat to obtain the food resembling the scallop as shown in FIG. 3.
In either of the methods described above, the component filaments which are gathered to extend in a fixed direction, are bound by a binder. Therefore, the filaments are bound too strongly compared to the natural scallop meat so that they cannot be readily separated using chopsticks or a fork. The character of the food is considerably different from the character of the natural scallop meat and its texture is quite different therefrom. In addition, the food 5 resembling the scallop meat manufactured by either of the method noted above, has cut end surfaces so that the corners 5a defined by the end surfaces are sharp unlike the natural scallop meat which has round corners. Therefore, in addition to the fact that the product is considerably different in appearance from the natural scallop meat, crumbs and batter or the like cannot be satisfactorily attached to the corners 5a when dressing the product. When the dressed food is fried, scorch would result at the corners.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,688 discloses a method of manufacturing a fibrous fish meat food consisting of straight and parallel filaments like the food resembling the scallop meat noted above. In this method, ground fish meat is kneeded and then molded into a certain shape and then subjected to setting. During the setting period, i.e., while the material has not yet been solidified, the material is cut into filaments. The filaments are then gathered into a cylindrical bundle and then heated to obtain a cylindrical material, which is then cut to a desired length. In this method, material which has not yet been solidified is cut into filaments, which are then gathered and heated. Thus, although the resulting boiled fish paste comprises an inner part coated with an outer surface forming a pellicle united to the inner part when the material is heated, inner filaments are not bound together, so that the product more closely resembles the natural scallop meat both in appearance and texture.
Again the product, however, has cut edges so that its corners are not round but sharp as shown in FIG. 3. Besides, the product has a pellicle surrounding the entire periphery, which is not substantially found in the natural scallop meat. In this respect, substantial analog of the texture of the natural scallop meat cannot be obtained. Further, since the cylindrical material is cut before it is completely solidified, it is liable that the shape of the filaments is spoiled when they are cut. Particularly, the filament shape is greatly spoiled when the filaments are gathered into the cylindrical form. For this reason, it is very difficult to obtain a food product which closely resembles the natural scallop meat.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,852,487 discloses a method of manufacturing fibrous meat products including those of fish meat. In this method, fish or like food is rendered into the form of filaments which are gathered into a bundle, which is then converted into a meat paste with an emulsion material mixed with it. The paste is then extruded such that the filaments substantially extend straight and parallel. The extruded material is then solidified by freezing or heating it. The product obtained by the method, however, contains the emulsion material intervening between filaments, and also the filaments are cut to very small length, i.e., 2 to 50 mm. The product, therefore, is greatly different in structure and texture from the natural scallop meat.